There was a twist in her stomach when Blake put on his goofiest grin and raised his thumbs. She felt like she was blushing and smiled wide herself to try and cover it while letting out a laugh. She was about to make a comment on how anyone could mix him and Harold up when the trio was interrupted by a flash of red hair and a whirlwind of words.

"Winnie!" Ayla sprung up from her spot and wrapped her arms around her longtime friend and fellow Hufflepuff. She knew her friend had been worried about passing her OWLs and she was thrilled to see that she was still attending Hogwarts.

"We need to talk." She emphasized the final word to let her dormmate know that the subject wasn't something they would be going into in front of Grim and Blake. She hadn't been able to see her friend over the summer. Most of which she had spent with Alistair before ending it overseas with her cousins Ginny and Athena.

"Your mom can bite the big one." She smirked before motioning to the boys, "Come, sit. We're plotting against the Slytherins." 

Grimwold was just about to launch into explaining the plan that was concocting in his head (he had completely forgotten about Blake’s twin in Slytherin, but with this information everything seemed to come into place nicely) when a girl turned up in the door to the compartment, and started to ramble on about herself. For a second he didn’t recognise her, and thought she was speaking about someone else, until he realised that it was her. Winifred from Gryffindor. The knut dropped when she started speaking about her bangs. So that’s why he hadn’t recognised her.

Ayla flew up from her seat and embraced her fellow Hufflepuff, and Grim realised they must be quite close. As Ayla ushered Winifred to sit down, Grim’s face broke into a smile.

“Hey, Winifred,” he said. “How was your summer?”

He cursed himself under his breath. ‘How was your summer’? Was he his mother? No, what a stupid thing to say. An attractive witch his age enters the compartment where he is sitting, and his first words are ‘how was your summer’? Grimwold would have to think of better commentary next time. If there ever would be a next time...

Winnie instantly brought new energy (or distraction depending on the view) to the car and Blake sat back to watch first Ayla greet her and then Grim offer an awkward attempt to do so. Catching Grim's expression after asking about her Summer, Blake decided to try and help steer the conversation. He could be a wingman when needed, right?

The Ravenclaw joined in with a simple, "Hey Win,"  and shifted where appropriate to make space in the car for her and any of her belongings that she might want to stow. "Hopefully you and Ayla can gossip later," he teased, throwing the latter a knowing look. Then he added, "Thankfully the dog days of summer are over, but days for pranking Slytherin are not." He clapped Grim on the shoulder. "We were just about to talk about how we might do that. So what about Bulbadox powder?"